Breakthrough in budget standoff

By Peggy Fikac :
May 22, 2013
: Updated: May 23, 2013 9:48am

AUSTIN — Texas lawmakers broke their budget impasse Wednesday by advancing proposals to give more money to schools, create a constitutionally dedicated account for water infrastructure and dip heavily into the rainy day fund to fuel that account and undo an accounting maneuver.

Final legislative approval is still needed on the proposals, with some voicing concern about the prospect of taking nearly $4 billion from the rainy day fund.

Others voiced concern about escaping the spending cap by using a constitutional amendment.

Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, said he voted against the spending proposal because of “a combination of a number of issues, one of which was how we use money from the rainy day fund.”

Sen. Donna Campbell, R-New Braunfels, said she voted against the spending proposal after initially supporting it because she'd like to see a couple of changes in what she thinks is a good bill. She said she would like to see more money for transportation and would like the rainy day fund to be used for one-time capital expenditures.

But Wednesday's action was a breakthrough after days of negotiations marked by evident distrust between the House and Senate. Lawmakers must act quickly to finalize the budget before Monday's end of the legislative session, with loose ends hanging on these issues and others — including tax relief demanded by Gov. Rick Perry. He'll get the last word on the deal.

House Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, said: “In the coming days, I expect the House to conclude a very successful session by taking the final votes necessary to address our water needs, pass a balanced budget, improve public education and make state government more transparent and efficient.”

Prolonged negotiations in recent days were spurred in part because agreements on state spending for the next two years are spread among several pieces of legislation in addition to the main budget bill, Senate Bill 1.

One key measure was in the House, another was in the Senate and each chamber wanted to ensure that its priorities were addressed.

Wednesday's action included House approval with a 130-16 vote of a proposed constitutional amendment to create a dedicated funding structure for water needs. It requires a two-thirds legislative vote to be put on a ballot for voter consideration. The measure, approved in another version by the Senate, will return to that chamber for consideration of House changes.

Dedicating the money in the Constitution will remove the money from the state spending cap, allowing Republicans to avoid a tough vote to break the cap. The voting threshold gave leverage to outnumbered Democrats, whose support was needed to meet the two-thirds requirement. They used their influence to bargain for more money to help restore $5.4 billion cut from public schools in 2011 in the face of a projected budget shortfall.

The additional education money reached about $4 billion, including $200 million that is in a supplemental spending measure, House Bill 1025, that became a key issue in negotiations.

Besides the education spending, HB 1025 includes $2 billion for the water fund — assuming it's constitutionally created — and $1.75 billion to reverse an accounting measure used two years ago to help balance the budget.

The expenditures on water and fixing the payment delay would be funded through the rainy day fund.